Jay Quinn on his way to winning the men's open final at the
New Zealand surfing championships at St Clair beach
yesterday. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Jay Quinn (Gisborne) got one up on his big brother when
he won his second New Zealand men's open surfing title at St
Clair beach yesterday.
Jay Quinn (27) won with a score of 18 points out of a
possible 20 from Richard Christie (Mahia) 16.53, Maz Quinn
(Gisborne) 14.07 and Morehu Roberts (Raglan) 11.62.
It is the prestige event of New Zealand surfing and has been
held annually since 1963. Maz Quinn (34) has won it four
times and was seeking a record fifth title.
"It is the New Zealand event that everyone wants to win," Jay
said. "When we were younger, Maz always had it over me. It is
good to get one back over him."
Maz also had the edge over his brother when he came with a
late run to win the quarterfinal and semifinal ahead of his
brother.
It was a star-studded final because Jay Quinn and Christie
were ranked in the top 100 during last year's world
qualifying series. Maz Quinn is the only New Zealand surfer
to compete in the World Championship Tour.
It was the highest standard of surfing seen in Dunedin and
this was demonstrated when defending champion Bill Stairmand
(Raglan) finished third in his semifinal behind the Quinn
brothers and did not make the final. Stairmand was ranked
67th in the world qualifying series last year.
Jay Quinn virtually had the title sewn up in the first 10
minutes of the 25-minute final when he scored 9.17 points
with his first wave and followed it up with a score of 8.83
on his second wave.
He described his big-scoring wave.
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